Running a business is a hard task and whether you run a start-up or a multi-billion-pound organisation, keeping a close eye on your finances and costs is essential. If your business has managed to make it through the pandemic, you now have inflation and a pending recession looming to wade your way through. Luckily there are many ways in this new digital age to save your business money and in this article, we are going to discuss a few options.
1) Use a Business Comparison Website
Business cost comparison websites are made for the sole purpose of saving you and your business money by comparing prices online so you don’t get ripped off by just one supplier. Be sure to compare all your costs regularly including energy, insurance, internet and office to ensure you’re not overpaying in any particular month.
2) Automate Your Processes
In 2022 there are many processes currently being run by expensive humans that can be automated. Verifying data like emails and telephone numbers can be completed by admin staff for £18,000+ per year or it can be completed by a piece of software for £10 per month – you do the math! AI software and robots are getting extremely clever and efficient, and all businesses should look to see how they can help. An example of this automation in everyday life is the self-serve check outs at supermarkets. This may not look like Wally the robot, but it is a simplistic robot automating repetitive tasks.
3) Don’t overpay on for Finance
Often young entrepreneurs or start ups take business loans early on in their journey to fund the business. Start ups are notoriously high risk and therefore interests rates can be as high as 20% per year. If you are a business that has taken an expensive loan, be sure to compare your other options to see if you could obtain the same amount of finance to pay off your existing loan but with a much lower interest rate now your business is more mature. You could also seek angel investors which would provide investment into the business for a small stake, which would stop you paying any monthly loan amounts which could be impacting your cashflow.
4) Seek a mentor
Across the lifespan of running a business there are many lessons learned the hard way and finding a mentor that has been there and done that is a great way of learning from other peoples mistakes, rather than making them yourself. Finding a mentor in general business or in your sector specifically can be invaluable to keeping your costs low. You may even decide to offer them a small wage and don’t be put off by the cost of doing so because you will often find the experience pays for this cost ten times over.
We hope you have found this article informative and helpful and we wish you the best of luck on your business journey whether you have started yet or not!